


Magic and Moonlight

by Wndrlnd_42



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Depression, Finding your place in the world, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Magic, Romance, Self Harm, Slow Burn, Strangers to Friends, Suicidal Thoughts, Supernatural Elements, Werewolf, mental health, werewolf boyfriend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:01:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24832021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wndrlnd_42/pseuds/Wndrlnd_42
Summary: They say everything always seems clearer under a full moon.When Jay moves to Stardew Valley in search of a new life, he doesn't expect to finally have found a place he can call home.Shane is a man struggling to find happiness with himself, life seems to have closed all its doors and left him out in the cold.Star crossed lovers are one thing, but the moon pulls the tides of life in mysterious directions.
Relationships: Shane (Stardew Valley)/Original Character(s), Shane/Male Player (Stardew Valley), Shane/Player (Stardew Valley)
Kudos: 9





	Magic and Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> Hi readers,  
> This is my first ever work on here, so please forgive any grammar mistakes!  
> This is a supernatural interpretation of the game Stardew Valley, but involving many of the themes already in the game. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

The breeze smelled of fresh, sweet grass as it blew through the leaves along the road to the farm, the scent of spring blossoms beginning to bloom tinting everything with a slight, sweet feeling. The sun filtered through the trees to dapple the dirt road, shifting with the wind as the clouds drifted silently by overhead. It was picturesque in the kind of way that postcards were; something slightly surreal, slightly magical about everything he could see, as if the whole world had been put through a filter that softened any harsh lines or bad thoughts away.

“Josiah was a good friend of mine, I’m glad to see his farm getting taken care of, especially staying in the family,” Lewis said. The mayor was older, his late fifties at least, with an impressive grey moustache to match his bushy eyebrows that sat like fat caterpillars above eyes crinkled with laugh lines, “it’s definitely seen better years, but in its heyday it was quite the setup.”

Jay took in another deep breath of the fresh air, “I can’t wait, I haven’t visited the farm in years.”

“Well, just be prepared for the work,” said the woman who had been introduced as the town carpenter, Robin. Her red hair was glinting with streaks of gold in the spring sunlight, but her expression was slightly apprehensive, “It’s been a fair few years since the farm has been at its best. The ground isn’t workable yet, and the house is in need of some repairs.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, I’m stubborn,” said Jay, barely able to contain his excitement as they rounded the bend and the farm gate came into view, missing a board and covered in lichen. 

“Just like your grandfather then,” chuckled Lewis, “that man was impossible, could never tell him no. Made him more intent on proving you wrong.”

As they reached the gate the trees parted, and the sun shone down over the open fields. Jay could see from here that the farmhouse was run down, the walls were weather-beaten and discoloured, and the roof looked as if it was a hot second away from caving in, drainpipes clogged with leaves and moss growing liberally across the tiles. The gravel drive was ridden with weeds, which were growing thick and tall through the rock and branch ridden fields, reaching far across to the forest on the far side.

“As long as you’re sure,” said Robin, “I just hope you know what you’re getting into,”

“It’s perfect,” breathed Jay, his eyes wide as he took it all in, meaning the words more than he had meant anything in his life.

Finally, he could live a somewhat normal life. Finally, he could be himself and still be happy.

Finally, a fresh start.

***

Shane hated Pelican Town. The place was perfect. Full of perfect people living their perfect lives in their perfect houses in the perfect scenic location. And then there was Shane, about as imperfect as a person could get. A fuck up, drunk, asshole who couldn’t get anything even close to perfect. He hated it.

The thoughts ran through his head for the millionth time since moving to this unbearably saccharine place as he made the familiar trudge to the Joja mart, the air still nipping at his cheeks with the memory of winter. Joja mart, the only place in the valley that wasn’t straight out of a fairy tale, only because it was straight from the page of a catalogue; the epitome of capitalism and commercialism. And, funnily enough, it was the only place hiring when Shane had moved to Pelican Town. So there Shane was, two weeks away from turning 29 and still stacking shelves in a supermarket. Fucking inspiring.

Shane was suddenly and rudely roused from his thoughts when he ran face first into another person stepping out of Pierre’s general store. Staggering back, Shane was only able to sputter out a curse of surprise as he righted himself, glancing up with a scowl at the person who was scrambling to grab what seemed to be Pierre’s entire stock of seeds before the sachets tumbled to the ground.

“oh shi- shoot, I’m so sorry man,” the accent was clearly Zuzu city as the young man gathered control of his sachets and turned an apologetic glance towards Shane, “I didn’t hit you with the door, did I?”

Shane simply grumbled and pushed past him, ignoring the concern. He wasn’t interested in pandering to someone’s guilt for knocking into him. Who cared? He wouldn’t be surprised if it was on purpose, most of the residents of the town hated him enough to do something like that.

“Well, anyway, nice meeting you!” the young man called after Shane as he reached the bridge. Shane didn’t acknowledge him. He had better things to care about than who-ever-the-fuck-that-was. I mean, deep down knew he didn’t, but that wasn’t the point.

It was only as he reached the glass doors to Jojamart that Shane realised that he hadn’t recognised who the man was. The thought surprised him. In the six months since Shane had moved to the valley, Shane had learned that there were a) about ten people who lived here, and b) everybody knew everybody knew everybody. A face he didn’t recognise was actually a rare occurrence. He shrugged the thought away. it didn’t matter if they were new or not, they weren’t going to be Shane’s friend, and he wasn’t going to be theirs.

The day passed uneventfully, Jojamart as always seemed to exist in some weird limbo in time where nothing felt properly real. Shane suspected it was the hellish presence of the place. Or maybe just the fluorescent lights. As the day came to a close and Shane punched out, he found himself stuck in the company of Sam, one of the other workers. The kid was probably nearly a decade younger than Shane and still full of that youthful energy that grated Shane the wrong way hard enough it shredded any energy he had left from the day.

“This year I’m totally going to ask Abigail to the flower dance,” Sam said, “no way Seb is beating me this time.”

Shane remained silent as they exited the building, experience telling him that any attempt to tell the kid that he was so far from interested that he had nearly circumnavigated the globe of “gives a shit” would simply make the kid laugh as if Shane was joking. Shane was never joking. 

“Yeah, it’ll definitely be this year. He doesn’t even like the dance, I don’t know why he always asks her.”

Shane’s lack of response sowed a silence between the pair as they began the trudge back to town, a few moments of merciful peace.

“I wonder who the new guy is going with?” Sam mused aloud as they reached the bridge back to town, ending the spell. But it did catch Shane’s attention.

“New Guy?”

“Yeah, the new farmer,” Sam immediately lit up at this unprecedented level of response from Shane, “Just moved in last week.”

That rang a bell, something to do with a new farmer that Marnie had mentioned. An old farm, some dude who passed away and now there was a new guy living there.

By this point they had reached the Saloon, and as Sam waved goodbye and Shane pushed the door open, he breathed a silent sigh of relief that he was somewhere that he could relax a little bit. With the help of a lot of alcohol of course. But as he pushed the door open, he wasn’t greeted with his usual view of Gus and Emily looking bored as they cleaned glasses. Instead, he was greeted with an unfamiliar figure, leaning over on the bar as they chatted with the two bar staff, blue jeans and leather belt matching the brown boots and flannel shirt pulled tight over the body of a man he didn’t recognise. As the saloon door swung open, the man glanced behind him meeting Shane’s eyes, and Shane was struck with the unusual shade of brown the stranger’s were. More like gold.

“Evenin’ Shane,” said Gus, jovial as ever, “here, have you been introduced to Jay?”

“No, I don’t think we have,” the stranger smiled, slightly lopsided with dimples, turning to greet Shane, “I’m Jay Wilcox. Nice to meet you.”

The stranger, Jay, showed no apparent memory of the unfriendly lack of introduction from that morning, simply smiling as he extended his hand for a handshake. 

“Hi,” mumbled Shane, giving in to the pressures of social conduct enough to greet him, but ignoring the outstretched hand. The young man frowned as his hand dropped but made no comment as Shane made his way to his usual spot at the end of the bar.

“Don’t take it personally, son,” said Gus to Jay, not quite quiet enough for Shane not to overhear, “not really much of a people person is Shane.”

“That’s fair,” said Jay, “people can be exhausting.”

Something about the young man’s words stung Shane’s cheeks pink as Emily headed over to him. He didn’t appreciate being either mocked or pitied. And worse, he couldn’t quite tell which one the new guy was being.

“You’re in a friendly mood tonight,” chimed Emily, smiling as she began pouring his beer without him needing to ask. Her blue hair was pulled into a short ponytail behind her head tonight, her usual assortment of ridiculously loud earrings on full display. Shane had asked about them once, and immediately regretted it when she had gone into a lengthy explanation about auras and crystal magic. Emily was nice, and the only person in the valley Shane would label as a friend, but she was definitely far left of field.

“I don’t come here to talk to people,” grumbled Shane.

“You could always try,” Emily smiled, placing the beer in front of him, "you might be surprised."

Shane took a long first sip, relishing the wave of relief it brought. The first sip was always the best, the beer at its coldest and crispest. Shane always savoured the first sip of every drink he had. It was the rest of them that he rushed through.

“No thanks," was all he said in response.

The rest of the night blurred away as Shane nursed his first and then his third and then his fifth beer. The new farmer stayed around for a while, chatting warmly with Gus and Emily about his plans for the new farm. Emily in particular seemed greatly interested in Jay, never taking her eyes off of him for longer than a few moments. Shane sighed, downing the last of his most recent drink. He couldn’t blame her for her interest. It was clear Jay was pretty handsome, olive skin and dark hair. He had an easy charm about him that Shane could never hope to match. Not that Shane was into Emily in that way, but she was arguably his only friend in the town, not that they talked really outside of the saloon. But she paid attention to him, and her uncanny ability with people made her less draining to be around than the other townsfolk, despite her eccentricities and over the top ways of thinking. She never judged Shane, and that’s what he appreciated most about her. But the way she continued to glance at the new farmer out of the corner of her eye wasn’t lost on Shane. Doubt crawled its way up from deep in his gut, tightening his throat as he took another sip of his beer. Maybe she was just nice to him because he was a good customer? Maybe she just pitied him? If suddenly there was someone else, someone more interesting and more pleasant to be around than Shane, she would jump ship as quick as she could?

He couldn’t blame her if she did. He was a piece of shit, an asshole.

But it still hurt to think about.

Eventually the farmer left, but by that point Shane was already deep in the haze of drink, unwilling to come out of his shell even for Emily.

“Why so down in the dumps, grumps?” she said cheerily as she polished the endless flow of glasses the bar produced, occasionally waving as townsfolk filtered in for the evening.

Shane didn’t respond to any of her friendly conversation, however, resigning himself to the imminent and unavoidable fate as the loneliest fucker in the valley, and eventually Emily left him to wallow in silence by himself. She looked hurt but Shane didn’t care. Why should he. Everything good he had ever had in his life disappeared like smoke through his grasp. It was better to rip it off like a band aid rather than endure the slow torture of watching people drift away. By the time the saloon closed, Shane was properly drunk, and the walk home disappeared into the fog of drink blurred obscurity.


End file.
